The Giver Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Giver - Essay Example When there is no creativity , when there is no love and even joy seems programmed, these might as well be ants in a ant hill. Even ants are ordered, systematic and conforming. But what makes human beings different from other animals is that we are individuals and it is our innate tendency to be our own self , not a clone of anybody else. A community like Jonas’s would be suffocating to most people who have seen or known what it is like to be human. Are there communities like the one in the book in the modern day world? Indeed there are. China, North Korea, Iran all of have such societies to a varying degree. But just like in the book , the only way these societies are able to keep a grip on people is by restricting their freedom and keeping control over the information which is available to these people. Indeed there was and is little crime in such communities and nobody ever starves. But that is true even for a prison , but human beings are not meant to be caged. The free societies have their problems. Crime, populism perhaps even decline in morals. But however imperfect and chaotic that might be, those are the systems in which Human beings thrive and prosper. Since the fall of the Soviet Union , there has been a return , at least in a little way to the old iron rule in Russia. This , many say is evidence that people want stability and protection. People do want stability and protection . This is true , even in the bastions of freedom in U.S and other democracies. But this stability and protection is not wanted at the cost of freedom. You just have to see what happens when conformity is forced on people who have already enjoyed freedom and individuality , like Prohibition in the U.S. or Emergency in India. It is simply not possible. There is an old saying which states that those who don’t know history are condemned to repeat it. Pain and suffering while uncomfortable and horrifying are extremely important. They tell us what consequences